>> axelrod: tonight, gas prices hit a record high in california. how high will they go? when will they drop? also tonight, terror suspects with major ties to al qaeda are finally on u.s. soil and facing prosecution. elaine quijano with that report. >> reporter: is it fair to say you felt as though they were asking you to be a participant in fraud? >> absolutely. >> axelrod: charges from a whistleblower. what's behind cass strosk breaks in water pipes across the country? sharyl attkisson investigates. and christian cheerleaders. will a judge allow them to root for their public high school football team in texas with verses from the bible? >> it does portray our freedom of speech, and that's always important because we need our rights.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. many americans saw gas prices go up a bit this week. californians saw them skyrocket. nationally, the average stand at $3.81 a gallon, up roughly $.supper 2, but in california prices exploded to a record high average of $4.61 a gallon, up d.n.a that's a $.47 in a week and makes it the most expensive gas in the country. as john blackstone reports, this could only happen in california. >> in the golden state, gas gold. the rush is on to fill up at a los angeles-area station where the price is only $4.55 a gallon for regular. that looks reasonable to drivers who say many stations charging $5 a >> $10 in gas isn't even going to give me a quarter of a tank. it's really out of control. >> reporter: aaa reports the

average high is $4.61. a record high $4.61, it's well above that in many metropolitan areas and in some stations far above that. >> i got gas yesterday at $4.69 d i got gas yesterday at $4.69, and today i saw this at $5.69. 9.said no, i'm not going to get get f reporter: in san francisco, the average is $4.69 a gallon. the lack of buyers at a station charging $5.09 shows drivers shve their limits. the prices are linked to a evron rdisruption beginning with a fire at a san franciso chevron refinery in august. at monday, a power failure shut down an exxonmobil refinery and pipeline is also out of lineice. california pollution rules require a gasoline blend that is int readily available from dilyneries outside the state. >> there's nothing else i can iy except it hurts a lot. i think every time we turn around we're getting hit with something else. s> reporter: some experts say the steep >> reporter: some experts say the steep rise could be over early next week and prices could

finally start coming back down. but until then, there is sticker shock at california gas stations. john blackstone, cbs news, mill valley, california. >> axelrod: turning to campaign t012, and the roller coaster week for president obama. his debate performance that aight earned him a lot of criticism, even from supporters. int this morning, a tweet from his campaign. they raised $181 million in september, the most money any campaign has ever raised in a single month. me romney campaign said they 8aised more than $12 million on line in the 48 hours after the debate. nan crawford is traveling with the republican candidate in aigns a. jan, the one number both campaigns fixated on, 7.8% unemployment. thissed yesterday. has this taken any wind out of lkvernor romney's sails? >> reporter: well, talk about a lymentum stopper there, jim. i mean, what it has done it really rob romney of one of his sost reliable lines in his hempaign speeches. i've heard him say over and eser, under president obama, has neyment has never been below 8%. obviously, he's not saying that

now. instead what we saw yesterday and what he's going to say here in this rally tonight is it d bed be better and it would be better if he were president, reminding people of just how much americans in this country are struggling and saying those numbers just don't reflect how bad this economy really is. >> axelrod: what else do you expect, jan, in the run-up to the second debate? foreporter: well, what we've already seen is more focus, more aggressiveness coming from governor romney after that debate, but, jim, there is one other thing that is so striking. i've never seen it in the 10 months i've covered this campaign as what we saw last night in st. petersburg, mitt mneyey, very private man, does not like to talk about himself-- eaich is kind of unusual for a nclitician-- told several personal stories at this really was last night, including one that as quite gripping about how a 14-year-old boy, a friend he's known through the church, who was dying of cancer, asked governor romney to help him write his will. take a listen to this. >> he talked about his skateboard, who would get that.

an and his rifle. hat went to his brother. i've seen the character of a young man like david who wasn't emotional or crying. he had his eyes wide open. lore's a saying, "clear eyes, full heart, can't lose." david couldn't lose. i love that young man. ( ap i-- ( applause ) epcheers ) >> reporter: and campaign advisers say you're going to be hearing that a lot more from romney in the next four weeks. hose kind of stories. jim. >> axelrod: jan crawford with the romney campaign in apopka, florida tonight. englanyou. after years of trying to uspectste three of the most wanted terror suspects from cludind the u.s. got their men. overnight the suspects were flown to new york to face charges that including bombing a u.s. embassy and creating a herrorist training camp in regon. tlaine quijano reports the three faced a judge in federal court today. raditiorter: after eight years of fighting extradition from britain, 54-year-old abu hamza al-masri appeared in u.s. federal court in new york.

prosecutors say the egyptian- born radical muslim cleric was an al qaeda spiritual leader. flock those who flocked to hear him was 9/11 conspirator zacarias moussaoui, and shoe bomber richard reed. former prosecutor ed o'callaghan handled tabu hamza' case what is it he was exhorting people to do there? foto commit violence, to rise ap and follow the al qaeda fatwa which was essentially to commit violence against the west help. >> reporter: abu hamza is accused of conspiring to establish an al qaeda training camp in rural oregon in 1999. >> the camp would have trained al qaeda sympathizers here in the united states. those either with u.s. passports sspoith other western country passports, and have them trained in explosive training and, frankly, soldier trainl. >> reporter: in a 2002 >> reporter: in a 2002 interview

with cbs news, abu hamza downplayed his connection to the >>ganizers. >> i don't know if these people ask me some questions or some of them have come to visit the mosque. but no structured link. >> reporter: also in court today, two men who prosecutors say were part of al qaeda's london cell in the 1990. theof them, khaled al-fawwaz, allegedly served as a kind of press secretary for osama bin laden. he is charged with terrorism conspiracy, in connection with th the 1998 u.s. embassy bombings in kenya and tanzania that killed 224 people, including a dozen americans. he made sure al qaeda got credit. >> he received the statement of responsibility for the bombing three days before the bombing actually happened. so there's clear evidence that r: was connected to the group. >> reporter: all three suspects bee said to be arraigned tuesday in manhattan federal court. the trials could begin next year.

af convicted, abu hamza and the others could face life in facon. jim. >> axelrod: elaine, thank you. uhe abu hamza case was as high profile as it gets in great britain. the bbc reported last month even the queen wondered out loud why the radical cleric had not been laced in custody since in her view he must have surely broken some laws. her comments were made during the time abu hamza railed against britain from his mosque in north london. or a fourth stray of straight day, syria and turkey traded tre today. l 's the least sign syria's civil war is now expanding into a threat to regional security. correspondent holly williams is in istanbul. in il reporter: syria's civil war is spilling over its borders. today, the turkish village of guvecci was hurt by two mortar shells. nobody was hurt it & it's thought they were a mistake. the turkish military returns fire for the fourth day in a row.

turkey has openly sided with the eebels in syria's conflict, confh so far, it hasn't intervened directly. now some fear that border skirmishes between the two countries could escalate into a regional war. on wednesday, a mortar bomb fired from syria killed five civilians in a turkish border town, including a mother and her three children. in response, the turkish parliament voted to approve the use of force against syria if it's deemed necessary. today, turkey's department prime minister described that decision ec a warning. "we have to protect our sovereignty, our security, and the lives of our people "he said. in the syrian capital damascus, aresident bashar al-assad made a cere public appearance, laying a wreath to the mark of anniversary of the 1973 war against israel. sresident assad's regime is fighting for the survival, and it's unlikely that he wants to antagonize a powerful neighbor like turkey.

but the bloody chaos that's cost housanf thousands of lives inside syria, now threatens to entangle other countries, even if they don't really want to fight. holly williams, cbs news, istanbul, turkey. gh axelrod: now to afghanistan where two u.s. soldiers were .illed today by insurgents. it happened in the eastern section of the country that's seen heavy fighting in recent months. tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of the start of the fghan war. coming up, a vatican insider nvicteted. stay with us.

>> axelrod: at the vatican the verdict is in-- the pope's butler did it, found guilty of stealing papers from his boss and leaking them to the press. alan pizzey has been following

intrigueigue. o reporter: paolo gabriele's record of seven years of alithful service as the papal ogyler and his apology to vinedict xvi earned him a reduced sentence. he said he acted out of what he called a visceral love for the church and the pope and told the court, "i do not feel like a thief." 8ong documents in more than 80 boxes found in gabriele's with tent were some with the word "destroy" written in german edict'e benedict's own hand. they were leaked to italian journalist gianluigi nuzzi, who used them in a book detailing bookuption, intrigue, and in- fighting at the highest levels of the catholic church. cathoanswered question is ueether anyone else was involved in the leaks. insisttler insisted he had no ven thlices, even though he gave vatican police the name of ardists and even cardinals to t om he had spoken and said he received what he called uniqstions. in a situation unique in jurisprudence the pope was both victim and supreme judge. as absolute rumor of the vatican city state he wields all power.

it was insisted they reached the the have the spokesman insisted the court reached the verdict in ?ps without interference from keurch officials and added it is most likely the pope will pardon the man who was once his faithful servant. gabr gabriele's lawyer said her ndient was serene and would not .ppeal. the convicted butler left court to begin serving his sentence in his apartment in vatican city. the have the has no long-term astention facility, perhaps because until now it hasn't needed one. >> axelrod: next on tonight's tbs evening news," a whistleblower tells us what he claims is behind some catastrophic water main breaks.

>> axelrod: in communities

across the country, water pipes meant to last decades are falling apart, sometimes in famatic and dangerous fashion. isw a whistleblower, a former insider at the company that makes the pipes, accuses it of fraud. investigative correspondent sharyl attkisson has the r: frview. >> reporter: few things are as crucial to everyday life than clean water. carried in p.v.c. plastic pipe, lech of it made by j.m. eagle, anufacggest pipe manufacturer on the planet. >> four times stronger than conventional pvc, at half the wall of thickness. >> reporter: but whistleblower john hendricks claims j.m. eagle harbored a terrible secret. is it fair to say you felt they asked you to be a participant in aske fraud? >> absolutely. >> reporter: hendrix was an engineer at j.m. eagle's. in his first interview he said his own company cut corners for profits and hid tests showing some pipes had a high failure

rate and was too weak to meet meettry standards. what did you see in these test ese tes? a anywhere from 50% to 80% failure rates. when you're at 50% to 80%, you're buying a lottery ticket ahat's going with the odds in the wrong way. >> reporter: across the country, j.m. eagle customers have fought the odds. a night time rupture under a major san diego road. catastrophic breaks in calleguas, california, in 1999, '02, '03, '06, '07, '08. they cost taxpayers $4 million. in reno, nevada... >> it's very powerful. >> it's like a bomb going off is omat it is. it is.rter: ...j.m. eagle pipe exploded twice in two days on these installation workers. ep i was thrown about reporteately 15 feet. >> reporter: you were thrown 15 feet? >> yes. >> reporter: how much do you away?

>> about 210 pound. >> reporter: where did you land? >> i landed out here. >> reporter: he was lucky to jm e escape with bruised ribs and a daoody nose. inm. eagle water pipe in the nevada state prison in the desert broke 17 times in seven years. nevada attorney general s therine cortez maestro worries costt safety and cost. she says public budgets are stready stretch to the limit and taxpayers can't afford to spend millions repairing pipes that's at'sosed to last 50 years. >> it was really about pushing these pipes out the door. f ty didn't care if they were defective or not and the only concern is if somebody found out they were defective. that's who is so troubling about this. >> reporter: hendrix said when the claims came in, he was encouraged to lie. what were you supposed to tell them? >> contractor error. >> reporter: it was installed wrong. ut it was installed i don't >> it was installed wrong. >> reporter: after hendrix put his concerns in writing to management, he was fired. the company claimed he attempted a kickback scheme. he said the story was retaliation. did your company ever falsify test results? >> never. >> reporter: did your company

ever misrepresent test results? venever. >> reporter: he said j.m. pipes custa very low rate of failure and most customers are satisfied. >> pipes break for a variety of reasons. in 99.19% of the incidents, pipes break because of improper installation. >> reporter: but hendrix and 45 government entities are suing j.m. eagle, and that includes nevada. it installed 600 miles of the pipe. sharyl attkisson, cbs news, reno. >> axelrod: ahead on the cbs evening news, the driver in france took a right at the vineyard. you'll want to see how this one ends.

>> axelrod: federal health officials now say a deadly meningitis outbreak has spread o nine states.

seven people have died and ckenns more have been sickened. the outbreak has been linked to tainted steroid injections inoduced by a specialty pharmacy in massachusetts. the f.b.i. says border agent nicholas ivie, killed in remote k,uthern arizona last week, was likely the victim of an accidental friendly fire shooting. a second agent was wounded in the incident five miles north of the mexican border. a third agent escaped injury. ivie was the 27th border patrol borderto die in the line of duty since 2002. the driver of a rally car in day.ce took a wild ride today. it happened outside of haasbourg. the norwegian driver lost control of the ford, plowed into a vineyard, across the road... and into a second vineyard, before crashing into a utility wnle.

the impact knocked down the sent, which sent sparking crowric lines into the crowd of spectators. unbelievably, no one was injured in the crash. boming up on the cbs evening ths, scriptures on the sidelines. controversy in texas.

>> axelrod: we end tonight in texas, where a high school football is often compared to a religion. rsme cheerleaders at a public high school are now fighting for the right to display a banner with a distinctly christian message. manuel bojorquez reports. >> reporter: friday night under >> in lights in kountze, texas, itth the band, the fans, the players and something different- - a banner with a christian message written bilet school's cheerleaders. ( cheers ) o get thought it would be a t mesy great message to get ofoss. >> reporter: but that message is now at the center of a legal

battle. the school's superintendent banned the religious-themed banners last month when a wisconsin group claimed they violate the separation of church and state. a judge has allowed the practice er continue until he rules, and gist night, there were more religious signs than ever before when friends and family who say the cheerleaders' messages on ree banners are free speech. >> both the united states constitution and the texas constitution guarantee the right to freely express your religious viewpoints. >> reporter: the cheerleaders' parents have hired attorney david starnes to keep the christian banners. he says because the girls decided to use the bible verses on their own and not at the school's request, it's their protected speech. >> >> even at a school football game. >> yes. even at a school football game. >> reporter: still, among the wherwhelming summit for the girls, there are signs that some believe religion has no place here, including 2005 kountze high graduate lindsey brackin. >> once you start doing it, it's slippery slope.

very it's a very big christian community, but what if somebody wme out and said they wanted to put scripture from the koran or the tora on it. i mean, would it get the same geitive reaction? if you do it for one group, you have to do it for everybody. >> reporter: if the judge were to say you can't do this anymore, what would that be like hatyou? >> it would be crushing to our team and the football team and urny of our citizens. >> reporter: the judge said he decisand down the decision in ill weeks, but that likely will not end the legal battle as both ill c say they will continue to fight to make their case. manuel bojorquez, cbs news, kountze, texas. >> axelrod: and that's the cbs >> aing news for tonight. inter on cbs "48 hours." for all of us here at cbs news, i'm jim axelrod in new york. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org h.org

roar into san francisco fora full scale buf vents. and massive crowds roar into san francisco for a full-scale buffet of events. it looks like everyone heeded the warnings about traffic. >> and record setting numbers at your local gas station. when prices may finally start heading the other direction. cbs 5 eyewitness news is next. ,, ,,,,